Hanger bar



Feb. 7, 1967 A. ZDANOWSKI 3,302,800

HANGER BAR Filed Oct. 11, 1965 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 IN'VENTOR. ALFRED ZDANOWSKI ATTORNEY Feb. 7, 1967 A. ZDANOWSKI 3,302,300

HANGER BAR Filed Oct. 11, 1965 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. ALFRED ZDANOWSKI ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,302,800 HANGER BAR Alfred Zdanowski, Philadelphia, lPa., assignor to George M. lllvurnstein, Bala Cynwyd, Ia. Filed Oct. 11, 1965, Ser. No. 494,325 Claims. (Cl. 21I--123) This invention relates to containers which are used to ship or store garments and more particularly to the bar or rod device which holds the garment hangers within such a container.

In containers which are used to ship or store garments there usually is found a bar support means which tits across the width of the container and which is supported by end brackets on the edges of the container. Presently, such bar supports have solid tops with some means for clamping the hangers thereto in order to keep the hanger and garments held thereon from swinging or sliding toward one another when such containers are handled during the process of shipping. Formerly, the bar which held the hangers was formed as an inverted U, that is, the base of the U shaped bar was on the top and the hook member of the hangers rested on the surface of the inverted U. The present invention contemplates using a modified upright U shaped bar with the hanger hooks resting in the upright sides of the U shaped bar. In addition, in the past bar supports have not been readily assembled, i.e., the support bar member has usually been fastened to the end brackets by some elaborate means.

The present invention provides a means for easily assembling the bar support member to the end brackets while at the same time providing a means for holding hangers at a fixed distance from each other, preventing them from sliding and accommodating different size hanger hooks.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved hanger support assembly.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a hanger support assembly which is easily fabricated.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a hanger support assembly which provides a means for holding the hangers supported thereby in a position whereby they will not slide against one another.

It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a hanger support assembly which can accommodate different size hangers.

It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a hanger support assembly for holding the hangers of garments which will minimize any damage to the garments held thereby.

In accordance with a feature of the present invention, there is provided a hanger support member and two end brackets having ears with the hanger support member having means at each of its ends by which it can be readily secured to the ears of the end bracket means.

In accordance with another feature of the present invention, the U-shaped hanger support member has a plurality of circular cutouts therein which lie in row-like fashion along the upper portions of the upright side sections such that when a hanger is placed over the support member, the looped portion or hook of the hanger fits into a pair of said cutout portions and therefore cannot move along the length of the support member. Accordingly, the hangers are kept at a fixed distance from each other and the garments on the hangers are prevented from being crushed or wrinkled.

In accordance with another feature of the present invention the hanger support member has the upper portion of its side section bent over such that there are no exposed rough edges and therefore damage to the garments held on the hangers and to personnel working with the hangers is minimized.

dfihzfihh Patented Feb. 7, I967 The foregoing and other objects and features of this invention will be best understood by reference to the following description of theinvention taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIGURE 1 is an exploded view of the hanger support assembly including the hanger support bar and the end bracket;

FIGURE 2 is a pictorial schematic of a garment container with the hanger support assembly supported across the side pieces thereof;

FIGURE 3 shows an end view of a first embodiment of the hanger support bar with the loop of a hanger disposed therein;

FIGURE 4 shows an end view of a second embodiment of the hanger support bar with a hanger disposed therein;

FIGURE 4a is a pictorial section of FIGURE 4;

FIGURE 5 is a cross sectional view of the end bracket along the dashed line 5 of FIGURE 1 but further including the one side of the hanger support bar engaged thereby;

FIGURE 6 is a view similar to FIGURE 5 except showing the second embodiment of the hanger support bar insofar as that means for engaging said support bar with said end bracket;

FIGURE 7 is a view similar to FIGURE 5 with a third embodiment of the hanger support bar insofar as the means for securing said support bar to said end bracket;

FIGURE 8 is a tubular embodiment of the hanger bar;

FIGURE 9 is a V-shaped embodiment of the hanger bar.

The use of hanger support assembly with containers for carrying or storing garments is well known. In the past these hanger support assemblies comprised two end brackets with an inverted U-shaped bar held between them, wherein the end brackets Ell (FIGURE 1) were elongated-slit-formed assemblies which were slipped over the edges of the cart-011, or container, as shown in FIGURE 2. It became readily apparent in the use of these devices that the hangers which were resting on the bases of the U-shaped bar connecting the legs would slide back and forth as the container was moved by trucks or simply handled within a warehouse or a store. Accordingly, the garments were wrinkled and sometimes even damaged. Hence, it became the practice to provide a bracket arrangement which was secured by a winged nut and a bolt to the top of the bar, to hold the hangers in place. Obviously, such an arrangement was awkward and if the brackets were not properly secured, the arrangement was ineflicient. Further in the fabrication of these hanger support assemblies, the support bars have been welded or riveted to the end brackets which makes the assembly piece relatively costly. In addition, such welded assemblies have been undesirable since they often come apart on the job. Obviously, such assemblies are very diificult to reassemble since welding apparatus is not often available at a clothing warehouse or store.

In accordance with the present invention as can be seen in FIGURE 1, the hanger support bar II is an elongated piece of rigid material such as metal, wood, plastic or the like which is formed (as viewed from its end) to approximate an incomplete rectangle or an upright U-shaped configuration. While throughout the description, the hanger bar will be considered as a U-shaped metal member, it should be clearly understood that the hanger bar could be other shapes which support the width of the hanger hook. Some such other shapes are depicted in FIGURES 8 and 9. There is a bottom section or base 12 of the bar assembly II as well as two side sections 13 and 14. The upper portions of the side sections 13 and 14 in the embodiment shown in FIGURE 1 have been bent at substantially to form the two overhangs I5 and 16, which are substantially parallel to the base.

Cut from the side sections 13 and 14 of the support bar 11 are a plurality of circles 17 which connect with notches 18 in the overhangs l and 16. When a hanger is placed over the support bar the looped portion or hook of the hanger (such as the loops 19 and 29 respectively shown in FIGURES 3 or 4) passes first through the notches 18 and ultimately fits into the circular portion 17 of the support bar. It becomes quite obvious that if the container is tilted forward or aft the hangers will not move out of the circular portions so that the garment will still be held apart from garments located adjacent thereto. In addition, the support bar by its ability to support along the width of the hanger loop keeps the hangers from twisting along the length of the bar so that the garments are securely held apart.

By cutting the circular portions and the notches in the support bar there is an added advantage gained. Very often in the distribution of garments the hangers are returned to the manufacturer or the shipper. However, many of the hangers become intermixed with hangers from other sources and they are all not of the same size. That is to say that the distances across the upper portion of the loops differ so that some hangers are slightly larger than others. By providing the slits in the hole cutouts different size hangers can be readily dropped into these slots (and ultimately into the circles) and even if the size differs, they still can be used with this support bar.

The support bar 11 is assembled to the end brackets 20 and 21 (FIGURE 1) by slipping the end open portions of the support bar over the punched out ears 22 and 23 of the end brackets 29 and 21. In the embodiment shown in FIGURE 1 when the support bar is slipped over the punched out ears 22 and 23, the cutout tabs (such as tab 26 in FIGURE 5) which caused the voids 24 and 25 in FIGURE 1 are simply crimped against the ears 22 and 23 to cause the bar to be secured. That is to say, there can be tab members, for example tabs 26. 26a, 28 and 28a in FIGURES 5 and 6 which are cutout from the side members or the bottom of the U shaped bar. These tabs leave voids, such as voids 24- and 25 in FIG- URE 1. This arrangement can best be seen in FIGURES 5 and 6.

In FIGURE 5 there is shown the side wall 13 of the support bar lli as well as the punched out car 23 of the end bracket 29. The cutout tab 26, whose void 25 can be seen in FIGURE 1, is simply crimped against the punched out ear 23 to hold the support bar secure. There are similar cutout tabs to accommodate the other punched out ears. date ear 22 as well as the two punched out ears and 36 (FIGURE 1) of the end bracket 21. Also shown in FIGURE 5 is a bottom tab 26a which is cut from the base of the bar Ill and crimped against the car 23.

FIGURE 6 is a similar View to FIGURE 5 excepting that the side wall 13 has the cutout tab formed in the side wall rather than the overhang section 15. Having the cutout tab formed in the side wall, the void 27 is shown While the tab 28 is shown crimped against the punched out ear 23. Further, there may be a notch cut in the car 23 to match and accommodate the tab 28. In this latter arrangement, once the tab 28 is crimped in the notch in ear 23, the support bar is unable to move because of the way in which the tab fits into the notch of the ear 23. In a similar manner, a notch can be cut into the lower portion of ear 23 to accommodate tab 28a.

Consider FIGURE 7 which also shows the side wall 13 and the punched out ear 23. In FIGURE 7 the overhang I5 is simply further bent and crimped against the punched out ear 23 to secure the support bar to the ear. The crimp indentation 41 is shown in FIGURE 7.

Returning now to FIGURE 4, we find that the hanger 29 is fitted into the cut outs (comprising notches 18 and circular portions 17) of the hanger support bar Illa whose end View is shown in FIGURE 4. The incomplete cir- In other words there are cutout tabs to accommocles cut into the configuration or embodiment of FIG- URE 4 more likely resemble a light bulb arrangement that is, an incomplete circle with a stem thereon. The stem representing the notches which are cut into the sup- 5 port bar. The hangers are simply slipped into the notches and ultimately come to rest in the circular portions. FIG- URE 4a shows pictorially in this embodiment the overhang sections 15a and 16a are not bent fully to 90 but are curved or tapered and act to accommodate the hanger. 10 The curve or taper of the overhang sections serves to abut the hanger with a wedge like arrangement so that different size hangers can be held firmly in a lateral sense.

Finally, FIGURES 8 and 9 depict three other configurations of the support bar. In FIGURE 8 a tubular bar is shown. Notches similar to notch 42 and circles similar to circle 43 can be cut from the tube to hold the hanger loops. The dashed lines are shown in FIG- URE 8 to indicate that an incomplete circular tube can be used. The notch and circle arrangement would be 20 the same as notch 42 and circle 43. Obviously if a tubular shaped bar is used the punched ears could be circular although this is not a necessity, i.e., the fiat punched out cars could fit into the bar.

FIGURE 9 depicts a V shaped support bar. The notch 44 is shown without the circle. It should be understood here that the notch in the other embodiments could be the same as notch 44.

The present invention lends itself for use with a conveyor system to transport garments from one shop location to another and of course to be ultimately automatically loaded in the garment carriers for shipment.

While the foregoing description sets forth a principle of the invention in connection with specific apparatus, it is to be clearly understood that this description is made only by way of example and not as a limitation to the scope of the invention as set forth in the objects thereof and in the accompanying claims.

I claim:

1. A device for supporting garment hangers with hooks in a garment carrying means comprising: an elongated member formed of a continuous wall of rigid material to provide a hollow along the length of said elongated member, and having a plurality of cut-away sections disposed at least partially in the upper portion of said elongated member to accept the hooks of hangers supported by said elongated member, wherein each of said cut-away sections includes a circular base and further including end support means formed to be secured to said elongated member and adapted to fit onto a garment carrying means and wherein said end support means has an integrally formed protrusion means extending therefrom which protrusion means fits into said hollow to support said elongated member.

2. A device for supporting garment hangers according 5 to claim I wherein a portion of said elongated member is crimped around said protrusion means.

3. A device for supporting garment hangers in a garment carrying means which have hooks comprising:

an elongated member formed of a continuous wall of rigid material to provide a hollow along the length of said elongated member; a plurality of cut away sections disposed at least partially in said upper portion to accept the hooks of c hangers supported by said elongated member;

the other upright side thereby respectively forming first and second over hang protrusions;

a plurality of first and second apertures respectively formed along the upper portions of said first and second upright sides, each of said aperture formed to provide a cut-away portion through the edge of its associated over hang protrusion and further formed to provide a substantially circular base in its associated side, whereby a garment hanger can be held by said bar by passing its hook first through a pair of cutaway portions located respectively in said first and second sides and ultimately resting said hook in the substantially circular bases associated with said last-mentioned cut-away portions.

5. A device for holding garment hangers with looped hooks according to claim 4 wherein there are further included first and second end brackets formed to fit into said bar member between said base and said over hang protrusions and further formed to fit a garment carrying means.

6. A device for holding garment hangers with looped hooks according to claim 5 wherein each of said end brackets has a pair of punched out ears which fit into said bar member between said base and said over hang protrusions.

7. A device for holding garment hangers with looped hooks according to claim 6 wherein each of the punched out ears has a notch cut into its upper portion and wherein the portions of the sides of said bar which are disposed adjacent said notches have tabs cut therefrom which are fitted into said notches to secure said bar to said end brackets.

8. A device for holding garment hangers with looped hooks according to claim 6 wherein each of the punched out ears has a notch cut into its lower portion and wherein the portions of the sides of said bar which are disposed adjacent said notches have tabs cut therefrom which are fitted into said notches to secure said bar to said end brackets.

9. A device for holding garment hangers with looped hooks according to claim 6 wherein each of the punched out cars has a first notch cut into its upper portion and a second notch cut into its lower portion and wherein the portions of the sides of said bar which are disposed adjacent said first and second notches have tabs cut therefrom which are fitted into said first and second notches to secure said bar to said end brackets.

10. A device for holding garment hangers with looped hooks according to claim 6 wherein the portions of the sides of the bars which are disposed adjacent said punched out ears have tabs cut therefrom which are crimped into said punched out ears to secure said bar to said end brackets.

11. A device for holding garment hangers with looped hooks according to claim 6 wherein sections of the over hang protrusions which lie adjacent to said punched out ears are crimped onto said punched out ears to secure said bar member to said end brackets.

12. A device for supporting garment hangers accord ing to claim 1 wherein each of said cut-away sections has a substantially circular portion at each end thereof and a substantially rectangular portion therebetween.

13. A device for holding garment hangers with looped hooks comprising, a bar member formed to provide first and second sides which are integrally joined by a base, a plurality of first and second apertures respectively formed in said first and second sides, each of said apertures formed to provide a cut-away portion through the edge of its associated side and further formed to have a base in its associated side, each of said bases being formed to direct the looped hook of a hanger placed therein to come to rest within a portion of said base defined by an extension of the sides of the cutaway portion of the aperture, the apertures on one side being positioned with respect to the apertures on the other side so that a garment hanger can be held by said bar by passing its hook first through a pair of cut-away portions located respectively in said first and second sides and ultimately resting said hook in the bases associated with the last mentioned cut-away portions.

14. A device for holding garment hangers with looped hooks comprising, a bar member formed to provide first and second sides which are integrally joined by a base, a plurality of first and second apertures respectively formed along the upper portions of said first and second sides, each of said apertures formed to provide a cutaway portion through the edge of its associated side and further formed to have a substantially circular base in its associated side, the apertures on one side being positioned with respect to the apertures on the other side so that a garment hanger can be held by said bar by passing its hook first through a pair of cut-away portions located respectively in said first and second sides and ultimately resting said hook in the substantially circular bases asso ciated with the last mentioned cut--away portions.

15. A device for holding garment hangers with looped hooks comprising, a bar member formed to provide first and second substantially upright sides which are integrally joined by a base, a plurality of first and second apertures respectively formed in said first and second upright sides, each of said apertures formed to provide a cut-away portion through the edge of its associated side and further formed to have a substantially circular base in its associated side, the apertures on one side being positioned with respect to the apertures on the other side so that a garment hanger can be held by said bar by passing its hook first through a pair of cut-away portions located respectively in said first and second sides and ultimately resting said hook in the substantially circular bases associated with the last men-tioned cut-away portions.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,793,035 2/1931 Whitney 211-123 X 2,556,246 6/1951 Wise 211-123 2,893,545 7/ 1959 Garfunkel 206-7 2,929,514 3/1960 Stewart -2 211-123 3,002,666 10/1961 Silverman 224-42.45 3,057,460 10/ 1962 Richer 2067 FOREIGN PATENTS 138,299 12/1952 Sweden.

CLAUDE A. LE ROY, Primary Examiner. 

1. A DEVICE FOR SUPPORTING GARMENT HANGERS WITH HOOKS IN A GARMENT CARRYING MEANS COMPRISING: AN ELONGATED MEMBER FORMED OF A CONTINUOUS WALL OF RIGID MATERIAL TO PROVIDE A HOLLOW ALONG THE LENGTH OF SAID ELONGATED MEMBER, AND HAVING A PLURALITY OF CUT-AWAY SECTIONS DISPOSED AT LEAST PARTIALLY IN THE UPPER PORTION OF SAID ELONGATED MEMBER TO ACCEPT THE HOOKS OF HANGERS SUPPORTED BY SAID ELONGATED MEMBER, WHEREIN EACH OF SAID CUT-AWAY SECTIONS INCLUDES A CIRCULAR BASE AND FURTHER INCLUDING END SUPPORT MEANS FORMED TO BE SECURED TO SAID ELONGATED MEMBER AND ADAPTED TO FIT ONTO A GARMENT CARRYING MEANS AND WHEREIN SAID END SUPPORT MEANS HAS AN INTEGRALLY FORMED PROTRUSION MEANS EXTENDING THEREFROM WHICH PROTRUSION MEANS FITS INTO SAID HOLLOW TO SUPPORT SAID ELONGATED MEMBER. 